Racing Sheep

It's Tuesday morning, and the end of the August Bank Holiday, with everyone returning to their normal daily occupations.

On Sunday afternoon, our village held its second annual Sheep Race in a field behind the pub. I missed the race last year, and so this year I put my anti-gambling scruples on the back burner, filled my pocket with coins, grabbed my camera and set off for the race.

Here's the lineup of the jockies.


And here's the line up of the races. If you click on the picture you should be able to read it. In the first race I bet on No. 1 Shearger, ridden by Willy Sawsome (in navy blue on the far left of the picture above). The race was won by No. 5 Little Lamb (in fact a lamb half the size of the other runners) ridden by Barbara Ram (the one in pink). So I lost my £1 stake.

In the second race, I felt that it was impossible to guess which sheep would win, or even which sheep was which. So I decided that it must all rest on the rider, and I bet on Race 1's winning rider - Barbara Ram, riding No 5, Rambo.

During the commentary the commentator was interviewing someone with racing credentials (but of the motoring type, I think) and the conversation went something like this:

"Who do you think will win?"

"A sheep."

"Ah! But which sheep will win?"

"A white one." (all the sheep were white)

Here's the second sheep race (The Cottesloe Cup)....

Yes! Barbara Ram did it again, and I won £2.50 which deducting my two £1 stakes, left me with a profit of 50p.

I'm afraid I missed the third race, because I was in the pub drinking a cup of coffee and trying to get warm.

Remember Leo? Well between each race, they had a dog handler and dog fun race, and Leo was entered into the second one (between the 2nd and 3rd Sheep Race). Here's a picture with Leo circled in red. As you can see, his handler picked him up and carried him, so they were both disqualified!

It was really good fun. If anyone has any concerns, I would like to stress that no dogs or sheep were hurt during these races, although there were one or two human injuries, and one of the sheep escaped.